California’s energy future: does it include SONGS?

California has two nuclear power plants: PG&E’s Diablo Canyon, located on the San Luis Obispo County coast, and the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station near San Clemente, known as SONGS.

SONGS has been around since the late 1960s, and the twin reactor units at SONGS were southern California’s most reliable source of baseload power.

But SONGS has been offline since January due to a deterioration of steam tubes and remains shut down. California has offset the loss by increasing the use of natural gas-fired power plants and importing more electricity from out-of-state.

In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, local organizations have urged state regulators to permanently shut SONGS down: http://sanonofresafety.org/

Southern California Edison is trying to educate consumers about the value of nuclear power as the largest source of electricity that does not emit greenhouse gases and is planning a teach-in of sorts Nov. 27: http://www.songscommunity.com/

Does California’s energy future include nuclear power? Or is the call for California to move beyond nuclear growing louder?